News Releases - July/Aug 2006 - Item 3

No. 2006/07/26 - issued by BTO, on behalf of BTO, JNCC and RSPB
Embargoed until 00.01 Monday 3 July

Scottish successes: Blackcaps move north, whilst Scottish specialists decline

Each year, hundreds of birdwatchers go out with notebooks to count Scotland’s birds, as part of the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey. The high rate of coverage across the whole of the UK means that we are able to report on changes in bird populations for Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland, as well as the UK overall.

Overall picture in Scotland:

• More than 70,000 individual birds of 166 species were counted on 302 1-km Ordnance Survey grid squares across Scotland in 2005.

• This enabled us to monitor the changing numbers of 54 species in Scotland. Of these, 7 species declined significantly and 23 species increased significantly between 1994 and 2005. No species declined by more than 50%, but Kestrel, Lapwing, Curlew, Swift and Hooded Crow showed moderate declines (25–50%). Increases greater than 50% were recorded for Grey Heron, Buzzard, Snipe, House Martin, Wren, Mistle Thrush, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Goldcrest, Great Tit and Goldfinch.

• The Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is administered by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). Across the UK, voluntary Regional Organisers play a vital role in coordinating the efforts of local birdwatchers. Volunteer birdwatchers are assigned 1-km squares that they visit three times in the season. Having got up very early in the morning, each volunteer spends about two hours counting all the birds they see and hear along their chosen 2-km route. The BTO’s work in Scotland is run from its Stirling office.

• The BBS started in 1994. This carefully designed, yet simple survey has attracted many participants. The good level of coverage throughout the UK means that we are able to report separately on changes in bird populations in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as for the UK overall.

SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS

Record volunteer participation

For the first time in the survey’s history, volunteers surveyed more than 300 BBS squares in Scotland in 2005. This has enabled us to follow the changing numbers of even more of Scotland’s common bird species, including Bullfinch for the first time in 2005.

Blackaps move north

The Blackcap continues to be one of the country’s most successful of summer-visitors, with numbers increasing by 23% in Scotland between 2004 and 2005, and more than doubling since the start of the survey in 1994. Blackcaps were recorded on 18% of BBS survey sites in Scotland in 2005, compared to only 8% in 1994. This upward trend is also being recorded in England and Wales and over the past 30 years there has been a range expansion into northern Scotland, earlier egg laying and an increasing number of birds staying through the winter in gardens. The reasons for this increase remain unclear, although climatic warming is probably allowing this species to spread its range northwards.

Moorland Meadow Pipits in decline

Numbers of Meadow Pipit, one of Scotland’s most abundant birds and the archetypal species of open moorland, have declined by 18% since 1994. Similar declines have been reported in northern England, where numbers have fallen by 32% in the North West and 41% in Yorkshire. Meadow Pipits are partial migrants and conditions on the Iberian wintering grounds have been linked to declines in the UK, as have losses of marginal land from parts of the breeding range

Scottish ‘Hoodie’ in decline

The latest BBS results show that numbers of Hooded Crow have declined by 37% in Scotland since 1994. This species was only officially separated from the Carrion Crow in 2002, and occurs within the UK in Scotland (primarily north of the Great Glen) and in Northern Ireland, where in contrast numbers have increased significantly over the same period. A contraction in the Hooded Crow range (particularly in Moray & Nairn) and an expansion of that for Carrion Crow were recorded between the two breeding bird atlas periods of the early 1970s and 1990s. A narrow band of hybrid birds occurs where these two species meet, and this band has moved by some 20 miles in a north-westerly direction over this period.

Notes to editors

Red-listed species increasing in Scotland during 1994-2005:

Amber-listed species increasing in Scotland during 1994-2005:

Amber-listed species decreasing in Scotland during 1994-2005:

Additional Notes

1. The Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is administered by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) from its headquarters in Thetford, Norfolk and also promoted by staff from BTO Scotland in Stirling. Across Scotland, 26 voluntary BTO Regional Organisers play a vital role in coordinating the efforts of local birdwatchers.

2. The results from the BBS are designed to monitor a wide-range of common birds across all habitats. The survey started in 1994 and has now replaced the long-running Common Birds Census, which was largely restricted to farmland and woodland habitats. The results from both schemes provide a unique monitoring system for the UK’s common breeding birds.

3. Changes in the status of breeding birds are used by Government in their headline indicator of sustainable development in the United Kingdom. The abundance of terrestrial breeding birds has also been identified as one of the provisional Biodiversity State Indicators within the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and will draw on BBS data.

4. The BBS is a line-transect survey carried out on randomly selected 1-km squares of the National Grid. During the breeding season, each observer firstly makes a single visit to record the habitat and then two visits to count the birds.

5. The BBS is a partnership between the British Trust for Ornithology, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (on behalf of Scottish Natural Heritage, English Nature, the Countryside Council for Wales and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

6. The report, the Breeding Bird Survey 2005, is included with this news release. This important survey is carried out by volunteer birdwatchers throughout the UK, who receive no financial reward or expenses for their efforts. We are indebted to them for their tremendous support.

For further information please contact:

Mike Raven, David Noble, Graham Appleton
on 01842 750050 or e-mail: press@bto.org during office hours
Jacqui Kaye (BTO Scotland) on 01786 466560

Graham is available outside office hours - mobile 07974 668503

Images to use alongside this story can be obtained from BTO by e-mailing
(this service is available outside office hours)

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